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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 8837 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8837—Prescribing Regulations Governing Overtime Compensation of Certain Civilian Employees of the War Department, the Navy Department, the Coast Guard, and the Panama Canal

Wednesday, July 30, 1941
3 min read (680 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1941-07-30, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Prescribing Regulations Governing Overtime Compensation of Certain Civilian Employees of the War Department, the Navy Department, the Coast Guard, and the Panama Canal." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

In determining the overtime compensation which may be paid to any per-annum employee under section 1 hereof, the pay for one hour shall be computed as one-eighth of such employee's pay for one day.
The pay for one day shall be considered to be one three-hundred-and-sixtieth of the employee's per-annum salary.
When in the judgment of the head of the department concerned, the Governor of The Panama Canal, or the subordinate officers mentioned in section 3 of these regulations, the health or efficiency of any employee will be impaired by employment for more than eight hours a day or forty hours a week, such employee shall not be required or permitted to work overtime.
It shall be the policy of the agencies affected by this order to hold overtime work to the absolute minimum consistent with the requirements of the national-defense program.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Total Words
680
3,991 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
24.7
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8837, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jul 30, 1941). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8837-prescribing-regulations-governing-overtime-compensation-certain.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)